Christmas at Glynwood

Tyler and Greerson opening their presents

Greerson with his new ATTE

Woody and Stephen preparing their guns for Santa!

We travelled to Christa's parents (Glynwood) Tuesday evening and claimed our room before anyone else got there! Christmas Eve we baked a Hollywood Grapefruit cake (from the Brown Derby in Hollywood) and pecan tassies. Christa was baking the tassies and forgot the vanilla in the first batch so she had to remake them. After a morning of baking we went to College Station and ate lunch and picked up BBQ for dinner that evening and got some last minute supplies for Christmas day. Shortly after we returned to the ranch everyone arrived we had a great visit. We ate dinner and played a game of Scene it. Christa's aunt Sheryl's parents really enjoy the theatre so we set them up to watch a couple of movies while we played Mexican Train. Shanda was too tired to complete the game so she went to bed and about that time the movies were over so the Sheryl's parents completed her hand. We had a great time! While we played the game Woody, Stephen and Doyle were cleaning the gun collection. It was amuzing we were waiting for Santa and getting the guns ready for the reindeeet. Greerson went to be really early becuase he was expecting Santa Claus and he didnt want to be awake to keep him from coming. We stayed up until about 1:00 then Greerson got us up at 6:51 Christmas morning to check out the tree. He was so excited. We had several extended family members for lunch and we had a white elephant gift exchange that afternoon. Christa got a ceramic plaque with an statement about tires and men and problems (it was too crude for mixed company!) and Daryl got a puzzle. Greerson got two large lego sets and a car load of other toys and books. Tyler got Guitar Hero so we are destined to listen to that the rest of the time we are here. The funny food event of this holiday is Grandpa Woody's rolls. He decided he needed to double the recipe so he went to work and before we knew it he had 57 rolls and had only used half of the dough. The dough had outgrown the bowl and was spreading all over the cabinet. It was reminiscent of the Lucy episode where she baked bread that overtook the kitchen.

Christmas at Grandma Pat's House

Nancy and Grandma Pat are waiting anxiously to open presents!

Greerson gets help from Christa to open his envelope

Caroline shows off her new jewelry!

We hosted the dessert portion of a party the other night. It was a lot of fun! We started out with appetizers at one couples house then travelled to another couples house and played Christmas Jeopardy and ate the main course, then we went to our house for dessert and a game of pictionary and trivial pursuit. The ladies won both games, however it was very close! The party wound down about 1:30 am. It was great!

We all stayed in bed Saturday and then packed to go to the ranch for Grandma Pat's Christmas. We got there about 7pm and Greerson, Christa, Mimi and Grandpa Woody watched Prince Caspian in the theatre and Daryl watched Home Alone 2 in the bedroom. About halfway through the film Rhetta, Christa's aunt called and asked us to check on the oil well, there was a strong smell outside similar to burning tires. Christa and Daryl went down to oil well then over to Grandma Pats to check it out, but couldnt find anything.

We enjoyed seeing all of the Shultz family. Caroline was particularly cute, she is quite a character. We all had a good time and enjoyed Jason's Deli trays for lunch. Jeff and Sarah brought their playstation and it was fun to watch everyone play guitar hero. Greerson was quite the marksman while playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. He would sneak up behind people and kill them before they could figure out where he was. Christa was so proud!!! We are back home for a couple of days then we are headed to the Ranch for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Party at School

Daryl is the room parent for Greerson's room at school and had to host the Christmas party (the school would have you believe that it was a winter party, but Daryl made sure it was a Christmas party). The kids decorated Christmas cutout cookies from the Cookie Bouquet store. They also got several Christmas party favors and played games. Greerson and his friends had a great time.

Thanksgiving

The oil well was pumping away when we took Sheryl and Bob on a tour of the ranch.

This is the Safari party looking for wild game! Sheryl and Daryl rode on the back of the Bad Boy Buggy and Christa drove.

December is so busy I am just now getting around to posting Thanksgiving. Sheryl and Bob came out to the ranch and we went to look at the animals. We actually saw quite a few and even saw the herd if elk chase a coyoye. We took them down to the water fall and had a great time. Several of Christa's relatives joined us for Thanksgiving lunch and after everyone left we had a rousing game of Mexican Train. We had to train for Christmas when Christa's aunt Sheryl from St. Louis will want to try and beat us (she didnt fair so well when we played Labor Day!)

Daryl's Dad's Funeral

The flowers were really pretty.

This spray came from Christa's office.

Daryl's Dad passed away early Wednesday morning November 19 in the hospital. It has been a very busy couple of weeks keeping watch over him and trying to maintain some sort of normal life. To make matters worse Christa has been gone on business all month. The funeral was very nice, the minister from the last church in Clovis, New Mexico that Daryl's Dad served as music minister performed the service. It was very special to have someone that knew him and the family so well. He is the Dean of Wayland Baptist University in Clovis now. He gave all of us his latest book, Amos the churchmouse, in memory of our Dad. It is kind of bizarre to wrap your mind around the fact that both of your parents are gone. The realization really hit home at the cemetary. Apparently the grandkids were passing a virus around and different members of the family were sick the morning of the funeral and just before the funeral. We got home and went to bed after an exhausting week and about 4 am Greerson came in and was vomiting. Christa stayed home with him and Daryl went to see his family before they all left. Daryl's Dad, Ladson Worley was born December 24, 1928 and died November 19, 2008. He was quite a man, not only was he musically talented, but he was an avid woodworker, clock repairman and builder and general handyman. He also taught elementary school for several years as well as directed music in several Baptist churches around Texas and New Mexico. His oldest brother A.T. Worley came from Casa Grande, Arizona with his wife Lynn and his youngest brother Bob Worley and wife Jerry came. It also was good to see aunt Betty again, we had just seen her a few weeks ago during Baylor homecoming when her family had a reunion in Waco. Aunt Barbara was there also, we hadnt seen her in several years. It was great to see everyone inspite of the circumstance.

Summer Quilt

a trip around the world quilt

Daryl started a summer quilt in June and finally completed it in November. It was completely done on the machine. Rather than just sit back and watch the election returns he chose to work on quilting. It paid off it was completed shortly after the disastrous news of the presidential race was announced.

Cedar Hill State Park

Greerson works on his fishing beltloop for Cub Scouts, he has to earn all of them again since he is a Webelo now.

All of the boys went for a ride in this wagon

This is the group of boys that camped with us at Cedar Hill

We took the Cub Scouts to the Cedar Hill State Park for the Days of Old Festival. We all had a great time. Daryl went from Waxahachie after his Friday morning class. Christa and the rest of the families arrived that evening. The boys had a great time learning to fish and about wildlife conservation. They also got to play in a baseball game and ride in a horsedrawn wagon. The Dutch Oven Society was there and we had a good time visiting with them. Christa got a new lid lifter from the head of the Society. He was camping across the road from us. We left Saturday night after the campfire and went back to Waco to get ready to go the Charleston the next morning. This post is a little out of order, but our lives have been kind of crazy this week!

The Temple Tractor Show

We actually did this before going to Charleston, but we are a little behind on posts!

The computer guy at Christa's firm gave her some tickets to a tractor show in Temple, Texas so we loaded up the car and headed out to see what it was all about. It was really interesting to see all of the old tractors, they were having a tractor pull when we arrived. There was also a car show featuring the Model T. They were celebrating the 100th anniversary. It was interesting to find out that a family friend, Duncan Seawright was instrumental in starting the show in the late 1960s. We saw him at a distance, but didn't get to speak to him. We had a great time checking everything out. After the show we headed back to Waco to the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo. Christa's firm was hosting their employees at the Rodeo that evening. We had a great time, we were sitting in a box on the second row from the arena floor and the horses would kick up dirt when they ran by creating mud pellets on top of our drinks (they had lids so we didnt eat mud!). Christa's parents met us at the Fair and we ate dinner and all went to the Rodeo.


This was just a cool shot of an old car and the engine shed

This is like the toy tractor Daryl had as a child

This was a really old tractor

This is a picture of Duncan watching the parade of tractors

This is the street named after our friend Duncan Seawright who founded the tractor show

It was the 100 year anniversary of the Model T and there were several to look at!

Charleston South Carolina

The front of the hotel with a cool horse fountain
This is the new bridge in Charleston

This is the city skyscraper that was built in the early 1900s the city passed an ordinance against tall buildings in the 1920s to keep any other skyscrapers out. It is an 8 story building!

This is the aircraft carrier Yorktown
Christa is walking through a typical Charleston neighborhood

These are the flags at Fort Sumter
This is the interior of Fort Sumter

George Washington attended services here.
This is the outside of the same church. The steeple was used in the revolutionary war as a lookout and signal tower as well as the civil war. During World War II it was used as an air raid tower.

These houses are S.O.B.(South of Broad) They sell for millions of dollars

This is a cool pineapple fountain in a park along the battery

This is the walkway along the battery where two rivers come together into the bay

We went to Charleston for an accounting conference. Christa was in the conference all day and Daryl was touring the city. It is an amazing place. Charleston was founded in 1690 and George Washington stayed in a house there for a week and attended a church while he was there. The houses are really beautiful. They are unique in the fact that the street side is only one room deep and the porches are on the sides of the houses overlooking walled gardens. The porches are called piazzas and all of the doors that are on the street do not enter the houses, but allow access to the piazzas. Daryl visited Fort Sumter and discovered that it is on a man-made island. Barges toted tons of marble and granite from Vermont to Charleston to build the island at the entrance of the bay. It was very interesting to see where the first shots of the civil war were fired. Charleston also has more churches than any other city. Apparently to be buried in the city you had to be a member of a church. Some of the new church buildings were built around 1820. It was amazing to see how well preserved the city is. Parking lots are hidden behind buildings and carriages are gracing the streets. Daryl got to see Cabbage Row, (the inspiration for the opera Porgy and Bess). He also did ancestral research at the Historical society.

We stayed at the Charleston Place Hotel, it is an Orient Express Hotel (which translates into tripling all of the prices). Apparently it is where all of the celebrities stay when they travel to Charleston. The room was really nice with an inlayed wood entry hall floor. We were delayed six hours when going to Charleston. The Waco flight was delayed for an hour because someone broke the overhead bin and they couldnt close it. This meant that Christa didnt get to tour much of the city.

Lake Mineral Wells

The old Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells

The children's minister delivers the morning message!

Greerson discusses his plans with a friend.

We travelled to Lake Mineral Wells with the Cub Scouts and travelled the bike trail. Greerson had a blast. Our children's minister came camping with us and we invited them to dinner at our site on Friday night. During dinner we were talking about a family of racoons that had moved into our church in the children's building. They had finally gotten rid of them and She was talking about how she didnt want to deal with them again. We finished dinner and they headed home after dark (their site was right across the road from ours). About five minutes later she called and told us that the coons had gotten into their food while they were at our site. We really had a good laugh since we had just talked about her experience with the other coons. It turned out that the coons at that park are particularly adept at opening coolers and stealing food. Even the most season Scout Master got his hamburger meat stolen. We were fortunate that they didn't get into ours since Daryl had placed the drink cooler on top of the food cooler. If it hadn't been next to the trailer they would have just pushed it off and gotten what they wanted. After a moving sermon from the children's minister Sunday morning we drove home.

Greerson's September Birthday Party

Christa serves huge pieces of cake!

Greerson and a friend enjoy a pizza break between games

We really didn't think a Wall-E cake would be as popular as Transformers since Star Wars wasnt available!

Greerson turned ten again last Saturday as hurricane Ike rumbled through Waco. He had several friends join him at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate. Fortunately Ike didnt drop much rain on Waco and it was just a little windy. Everyone showed up for the party! We were a little worried about whether to cancel the party on Friday night, but as Saturday progressed we realized that the storm had bypassed us for the most part. We were exhausted by the time the party arrived, we stayed up late watching the hurricane come ashore. It was quite entertaining to watch Geraldo Rivera climb the Palm tree in front of the San Luis Resort. We have been saddened to learn that the Galveston State Park was devasted and the buildings swept away by the storm. We had hoped to campout there later this fall.

Greerson

Labor Day at the Ranch

Christa's uncle Doyle and his wife Sheryl

Our latest family picture!

Grandma and Greerson

We spent the Labor Day weekend at the ranch with Christa's uncle Doyle and his wife Sheryl. Several of Christa's relatives dropped in on Saturday and we had a great lunch together. That night we played Mexican Train. Sheryl was still upset that she lost the game at Christmas so we had a rematch. She didn't do much better!

Inner Space Cavern

We travelled to Georgetown to the Inner Space Cavern for Greerson's tenth birthday. It was really kind of cool (70 degrees). The cave was discovered in the 1960s when they were building a bridge on I-35. They were drilling core samples and kept losing bits, so they made a wider hole and dropped a man down into some old bat guana. They had to create a man made opening to the cave since it had closed over several years before. We rode a train down to the entrance and walked through the cave. It was a lot of fun. They even had a concrete retaining wall in the middle of the cave that had cave paintings on it (similar to the paintings in France). It was a very worthwhile trip, especially since Greerson got a mood ring! We had promised him that he could go to the cave since he missed the school field trip to the cave last year, because he was sick.


Who needs France, Texas has cave paintings too!!!!

Greerson and Tyler stand in awe as a bat flies around our heads
This is the rippled ceiling of the cave

Galveston

Greerson enjoyed the beach
Bright lights by the Tremont Hotel

Sand Castles on the beach

Tuna Does Vegas. . . .Coming to your city soon!

We made a quick trip to Galveston over the weekend. Our first stop was at the Katy Mills Mall where we checked out the Bass Pro Shop then drove on to Texas City. We stayed there since Hotels on the island are at a premium. Sunday we spent at the beach. Galveston Island State Park was a new experience for us. Greerson had a blast playing in the surf. The weather was very pleasant, cloudy and 89. Christa laughed that we went to the gulf and ate at the Saltgrass Steak House and Fuddruckers. Sunday evening we went to the 1895 Grand Opera House to see Joe Sears and Jaston Williams in Tuna Does Vegas. It was great! The ride home afterwards was a challenge (we got home about 1:30am).